Brief Description: Main spar bolts and Fuel vent/Drain fairing
The main spars arrive from the factory with a set of bolts already installed on them. These bolts are meant to hold the wing aft ribs in place. Other than that, they serve no purpose at all. This is a decision Van's made that I fail to understand the reason for doing so. One may argue that they were holding the main spar parts together while on the assembly line but my reply to this is why don’t they use temporary bolts for that? No need to ruin these little self-locking nuts just for pre-assembly purposes.
I started to have doubt on their future second life when I test trialed screwing back few nuts by hand. Many of them could be screw back completely with no effort. Many other would require very little effort to turn them. Besides, I have no idea of their installation condition (properly torqued?). Then I realize that those nuts (or even the bolts for that matter) may not be suited anymore for what they are meant to do. I’ve placed an order on Aircraft Spruce to replace them all; nuts and bolts. I’m sure the old one will serve somewhere else (one day...).
Also, I’ve ordered the fuel vent and drainage fairings made by JD Air Parts. Really neat design. Especially the one for the drain valve. It allows for time to time maintenance or valve replacement without forcing out anything like I’ve seen another manufacturer.
